Sunday, May 15, 2011

A few months ago I was asked by a friend if I wanted to photograph and design a poster for her short film titled "Salt of the Earth". This is her final assignment, a student film, and as such there was a very tight budget. Though there was no money in it for me, this was an interesting shoot, and I was definitely interested.
The first step was to actually watch the movie. See what it's all about and try and figure out the best scenario for the poster shoot. In general, the movie's about two friends who traveled to the U.S. to work in what we call "Agalot" which is the various product stands you see in malls all over the States. The "Agalot" job is a means to an end- they are planning to use whatever money they've saved up and travel to South America. This is not an unusual story. Every year hundreds if not thousands of Israelis come to the U.S. to work at such jobs and save up as much as they can for their travels. This movie presents us with a bigger dilemma when one of the girls debates whether she should leave and go travel, which was the original purpose and dream, or should she stay and make more money, which might have now become her main purpose.
So after watching the movie, we decided on the scene we'd like to shoot, and then scouted the location. This needed to look like it was shot in the U.S. It took us a while to get everyone on board, arranging the exact date with the lead actress, getting the props and outfit for the shoot, and finally two weeks ago we did it.
After choosing the best shot, working and editing, arranging the necessary logos, inserting credits and such, we finally had a poster. Two actually, as she needed one in Hebrew as well as one in English.
What do you think?

p.s. if you're in Israel you can come see the premiere. See details here

Tali, yes this is perfect! The photo seems telling the whole story of it "Dreams cost money, but sometime money is the dream"and i like the deep red on the blue. also the tiny little red dots that faded in the background.